By Nicole Maldonado |Staff Writer|
Six medicinal marijuana properties in Colton were raided Nov. 2 for allegedly selling marijuana to the general public. What else is new?
Some say the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was just doing its job; others believe the organization misused its power.
I believe the DEA was completely in the right for raiding these establishments because they need to be exclusive to patients that truly need the medicine for health conditions.
According to the Justice Department’s website, a main responsibility of the DEA is the “enforcement of the provisions of the Controlled Substances Act as they pertain to the manufacture, distribution, and dispensing of legally produced controlled substances.”
The reason for the raids in Colton, Moreno Valley and Upland were due to the fact that undercover agents were able to buy medical marijuana with fake recommendations.
The investigation conducted was within perfect compliance with the DEA’s job responsibilities. The DEA was doing its job to make sure the dispensaries were doing what they are designed to do — provide patients with real medical conditions with medical marijuana.
These dispensaries, however, were not providing marijuana properly.
Think about the FDA and health inspections in places where you eat every day. The FDA does its job to make sure the restaurants are following the rules. Good thing for these inspections because I highly doubt anyone of us would go to a place to eat with a rating any less than an “A”.
Might I repeat, the DEA was doing its job, you don’t always get a heads up that the health inspector is coming.
We constantly hear of dispensaries being shut down all over the place. To avoid all this headache and raiding, they should be eliminated altogether.
I believe all patients who need medical marijuana for health purposes should only to go to a doctor who is able to prescribe medical marijuana that can be filled at medically certified pharmacies.
If they do this, the likelihood of people who desire medical marijuana for non-medical reasons will not be able to receive it. Therefore, this may eliminate the need for dispensaries, which as of now are being abused by these individuals.
If there were real pharmacies such as Kaiser that could issue medical marijuana to patients who need it, there wouldn’t be such an excessive number of dispensaries in one city.
For example, there are currently at least 13 medical marijuana dispensaries in San Bernardino, according to www.inlandempirecannabisclubs.com .
If the only legal way to obtain medical marijuana for real health needs would be through a doctor’s prescription, dispensaries could disappear and the DEA could focus on more drug problems on the streets to prevent crime.
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